my time in croatia

on mountains, coastlines, valleys, and forests. This surprised me, given the relatively small geographic extent of its borders. I was able to see and experience each of these landscapes and how the culture is connected to them, but it was my experience in the forests of Croatia that disproportionately contributed to my understanding of cultural landscapes and historic preservation.

We traveled to the Karlić Tartufi truffle farm in the most northwestern region of the country called Istria. Here, we explored the Motovun forest where the farm resides. We learned about the generational history of truffle hunting in the Tartufi family and how they have become one of the largest international truffle suppliers. Watching a man and his beloved dog skillfully search the forest floor for their livelihood gave me a deeper understanding of how communities are connected to their landscape, and how important it is to consider this when altering it. My design philosophy has shifted in favor of landscape dependent communities like the Tartufis. This experience has provoked me to ask historic preservation questions when altering landscapes on which people and communities depend.

In Croatia, we explored areas of landscape architecture and historic preservation that I had never considered. Visiting the Mirogoj Cemetery in Croatia’s capital city of Zagreb opened my mind to the field of cemetery design. The Mirogoj cemetery is the resting place for many notable Croatian poets, artists, athletes, and politicians. It is structured with elaborate and beautiful architecture designed by architect Hermann Bollé. The architecture and skillful maintenance of the cemetery displayed how important this burial ground is for the Croatian people. Exploring the cemetery made the intertwinedness of landscape architecture and historic preservation in cemetery design evident in that not only does the landscape need to be accessible and beautiful, it also needs to be historically respectful for those who rest there and their loved ones who visit. Although my studies may not lead me to a career in cemetery design, the

Mirogoj Cemetery revealed important considerations to have when designing any site. My design philosophy has grown to emphasize the importance of honoring a community’s ancestors by designing aesthetic, historically respectful spaces for them.

It wasn’t until we visited a place of extreme Croatian hardship that my understanding of historic preservation and landscape architecture ultimately changed. We traveled to the Croatian-bosnian border to the Jasenovac concentration camp of former Yugoslavia. This was a forced labor and extermination camp about 60 miles South of Zagreb run by the Croatian fascist Ustasha organization during the period of Nazi regime in Europe. Today, this site consists of a 24 meter high concrete flowering sculpture emerging from rolling grass mounds in the landscape. This site’s lack of memorial architecture and museum structure made it difficult to visualize the massacre and tragedy that took the lives of an estimated 100,000 people between 1941 and 1945.

I remember at first wondering why they did not reconstruct anything and how it was worth coming all this way to stand in an open field, unable to visualize the tragedy that took place here.

After immersing myself in the Jasenovac camp site I was overwhelmed with emotions thanks to the thoughtful curation and collaboration between landscape architects and historic preservationists. The mounds of earth beneath the concrete flower are not from natural causes. Rather, they represent the former footprints of bunkers, chambers, and barracks. The towering flower rising from the open field, created by Croatian sculptor Bogdan Bogdanović, represents meditation and reconciliation from “inhabitance of hatred that passes from

“inhabitance of hatred that passes from generation to generation” (Spomenik database).

In experiencing the site, I realized that the lack of reconstructed infrastructure and signage created a space of contemplation, forcing me to internalize and envision the camp in an authentic way. It is as if the landscape is still recovering from its period of turmoil. I felt more than a visualization of the tragedy. I felt the weight of those who died there. I felt the ache and sadness of those who passed through this seemingly empty field.

This experience gave me a new understanding of how historic preservation and landscape architecture can work together to preserve landscapes that are difficult to talk about, straining to visit, and controversial to commemorate. I now have a better understanding of how emotions can be evoked in landscapes, even in abstract ways.

My time in Croatia taught me about cultural heritage in landscape design like no other experience could have. The Tartufi family showed me how communities have generational ties to their landscapes that give them joy, passion, and a livelihood. The Mirogoj Cemetery introduced me to a whole area of landscape architecture and historic preservation regarding burial grounds and cemetery design. The Jasenovac concentration camp taught me how to evoke emotion in a landscape to tell history through landscape design. I am now a more conscious landscape architect and a more knowledgeable historic preservationist because of my time in Croatia in the summer of 2022.

Spomenik database: The Flower Monument at jasenovac. spomenikdatabase. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2023, from https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/jasenovec

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Jasenovac. United States holocaust memorial museum. Retrieved March 30, 2023